The Heartless, Cheating Scumbag Woman in a Female-Dominated World (Six)

By the time Xie Ning got dressed and went to the study, Jiang Xuefu was already waiting.

The advanced mathematics book in her hands had originally been blank, like a brand-new book, but she had now written some notes in it.

"Auntie, why are you messing with my book?"

There he went again, the little brat.

She opened the book to the page with her notes, pushed it in front of him, and said mildly, "Don't call me auntie. You can call me teacher or big sister."

Teacher?

The agitation Xie Ning had only just managed to quell bubbled up again.

The novel he had read last night had been a teacher-student romance... The male lead fell in love with the female lead, who was his teacher, and pursued her relentlessly, casting aside a man's modesty. After going through all manner of hardships, the two finally got together despite society's prejudice and the opposition of their family and friends. But just as they were about to reach their hard-won happy ending, the male lead suddenly developed cancer and, in the end, died painfully in the female lead's arms at the hospital.

Teacher and student...

Teacher and student...

Teacher...

What are you thinking, Xie Ning?! Stop it!

Xie Ning took a deep breath and forced all those ridiculous, shameful thoughts out of his head.

Wasn't she just a woman who was a little better-looking and had a slightly nicer voice? If he bothered to look, couldn't he find a whole bunch of them? There was nothing so remarkable about her.

The young man comforted himself with these thoughts.

Xie Ning said, "What's it to you what I call you?"

Jiang Xuefu had no idea what Xie Ning was thinking and only felt that kids these days were really hard to handle.

"Whatever. Read through the notes yourself first, then do these quiz questions."

Xie Ning reluctantly took the book and began reading. Although it was material he had already learned, it still looked like a heavenly book to him; he couldn't understand a thing. As he read, his mind began to wander to the heavens, his eyes losing focus as he stared blankly at the book.

How is her handwriting so beautiful? It's vigorous and strong, nothing like my limp, floppy elementary-schooler's handwriting.

I'm so sleepy. I only just got up, so why am I sleepy again?

Smack!

A sharp sting suddenly struck his head. Xie Ning clutched his forehead and stared at Jiang Xuefu with wide, disbelieving eyes. "What are you doing?!"

This person has gone too far! Even my dad has never hit me all my life!

"I told you to read. What were you thinking about?" Jiang Xuefu idly twirled the fountain pen in her hand, paying no mind to the look in Xie Ning's eyes, as though he were about to cry.

Seeing her indifferent attitude, Xie Ning's young-master temper flared. He petulantly shoved the book forward. "I'm not studying anymore."

How old is he, still throwing a tantrum by refusing to study?

Jiang Xuefu wasn't going to indulge him. If he didn't want to study, she was only too happy to take it easy. Anyway, Xie Jinhua hadn't said Xie Ning had to improve his score by a certain number of points before she got paid.

Time ticked by, minute by minute, and Jiang Xuefu sat there, already checking stocks.

Seeing that the woman hadn't come over to coax him, Xie Ning pursed his lips and finally grew bored.

"Hey." He poked the elbow Jiang Xuefu had propped on the desk with the capped end of his pen. "My dad pays you, and this is how you teach?"

Jiang Xuefu finally put away her phone. The corners of her lips curved faintly, in a look that was half smile, half mockery. "Ready to study now?"

Her tone made it sound as though Xie Ning had been making an unreasonable fuss. Xie Ning silently rolled his eyes, pushed the distracting thoughts out of his head, and pointed to an exercise in the math book. "I don't understand it. Explain it to me."

Jiang Xuefu fell silent as she looked at the problem he was pointing to... For once, she felt a headache coming on. The young master might as well have kept throwing his tantrum.

Surely anyone who's attended even one math class should be able to solve this problem?

Fortunately, Jiang Xuefu had been very good at math in college, so teaching Xie Ning, who didn't understand anything, came fairly easily to her.

Except for having to deal with the occasional stupid question Xie Ning blurted out.

After finally making it through the arduous lesson, Jiang Xuefu quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, there was no such thing as a free lunch. She had earned every penny through her own abilities, not taken it for nothing.

She relaxed, but Xie Ning's eyes were still bright, filled with a rare thirst for knowledge.

Seeing him lean toward her again, pointing at another question, Jiang Xuefu hurriedly cut him off. "All right, that's it for today. I bought you a little cake. It's downstairs, so go eat it."

"!" Sure enough, the mention of cake immediately captured all of Xie Ning's attention. "What flavor is it? Which shop did you buy it from?"

"Go downstairs and see for yourself."

"Yay!" Xie Ning cheered, casually tossed aside the book in his hands, and happily ran downstairs.

He had loved sweets all his life, but he had damaged his teeth eating them as a child, so his dad wouldn't let him eat them whenever he wanted. Now he was only allowed to have them once or twice a month.

When he reached the living room, sure enough, he saw a little cake on the dining table. It had a delicate, beautiful chocolate exterior, decorated with several large strawberries.

Jiang Xuefu followed Xie Ning downstairs, and when Xie Jinhua saw her, his eyes flickered.

"How did it go, Fufu? Xiao Ning behaved himself, right?"

"Mm, his foundation is just a little weak. President Xie, that's all for today's lesson. I'll head home now." Having summed up the day's lesson in two sentences, Jiang Xuefu picked up her bag and gathered her things, preparing to leave.

Watching her, Xie Jinhua couldn't help asking her to stay. "Why don't you stay for a meal before you go? It's just about mealtime."

"No, thank you. My husband is waiting for me at home for dinner."

Jiang Xuefu politely declined. There was no helping it; Rong Feng was cooking at her home today, and she could turn anyone down, but she couldn't turn down Rong Feng's cooking.

"All right, then. Be careful on your way home."

Seeing the faint reluctance in Xie Jinhua's expression, Xie Ning, who was eating cake, suddenly realized he seemed to have discovered an incredible secret.

After Jiang Xuefu left, Xie Ning looked at Xie Jinhua, who was still standing at the door gazing outside, and asked out of the blue, "Dad, do you like her?"

Having his feelings exposed so suddenly, and by his own son at that, Xie Jinhua felt a surge of embarrassment. "What are you talking about? Hurry up and eat. Brush your teeth when you're done."

"Dad, there's nothing shameful about liking someone." Xie Ning took small bites of cake, not forgetting to offer a few pointers as he ate. "If you start dating, I'll support you with both hands and both feet, so you don't have to worry about me at all."

"Besides, Dad, you're good-looking and rich. What woman would turn you down? If she minds me, just tell her you're still a virgin."

Back then, Xie Jinhua had been the Xie family's only son. To have a girl inherit the family business, Old Madam Xie had planned to find a wife who would marry into the family for Xie Jinhua, so that even when they passed away, someone would be there to take good care of their son.

A candidate had already been chosen at the time: the girl was a distant relative of the Xie family and looked quite distinguished.

But Xie Jinhua didn't like her, and unable to prevail against his family, he simply fled in secret to Country M the night before their engagement.

There, he chose high-quality cells from the frozen reproductive-cell bank at a hospital where he had long since made an appointment. After they were matched and fused with his own, Xie Ning came into being.

This was fairly common among men. Some men didn't want to marry but still wanted a child, so they went to a hospital for the procedure.

Seeing that Xie Jinhua would rather go abroad than get married, his parents finally stopped pressuring him to marry, and the engagement was called off.

Three months after being discharged from the hospital, Xie Ning was also brought back to the country, where he grew up doted on as the Xie family's heir.